Smiles And Laughter Turns To Slaughter
by Thorned Rose
Summary: Sunny skies assist happy students in not realising that there's a real danger lurking within the grounds at Hogwarts, but who'll live, who'll die, and who'll kill or be killed?
1. Harry's Horrific Happening

                         Smiles And Laughter Turns To Slaughter 

                                                     **PROLOGUE**

      It was a rather glorious summer day (no different than any other the students attending Hogwarts had enjoyed recently), and as a natural side effect, none of the students were able to concentrate on any of the lessons other than Potions, as that took place in the dank, dreary dungeons, with an even more depressing teacher. Students that were more advanced with magic were levitating and changing their densities to sunbathe on the warm roofs of the greenhouses to absorb the heat they had gathered all day, whilst others were more content lazing around on the almost majestic lawns that graced the landscape of the school. This was not the case for all of the student body however. A certain seventeen-year-old female student who went by the name of Hermione Granger kept Madame Pince some company in the stuffy library whilst she happily spent her time relaxing with a large and heavily mildewed book on a topic that nobody knew about as it was so old and forever ignored by browsers. She found a certain level of comfort in the mouldy books, and what she read now interested her greatly as it involved something that she had learned only recently, so she naturally wanted to research it as much as possible. She didn't even notice she was writing notes in her best handwriting at the same time as she pored over the yellowed pages; she'd done it for most of her life and now it was second nature for her to do it. In fact, it could account for her completing her assignments well before any of her classmates, which happily left her with more time to dedicate to studying. Her friends had learned to adapt to her habits almost as quickly as they'd learned that more or less every conversation held with her contained at least one reference to some unknown book that, according to her, they should have read if they wanted to be taken seriously as a witch/wizard. She didn't really mind being alone for the duration of her reading, as she took pride in revealing facts that she had taken the time to learn, and she felt content when they were impressed. Unfortunately, they now began to take her resources for granted a lot more than they used to, and this fuelled her determination to find out all available on what she was looking at now. Still, it would be nice if her friends kept her some company in this sweltering heat, but right now, neither of her closest friends were capable of such a thing.

      Harry Potter awoke to a strange sight—for some reason he was on his back looking up at the Whomping Willow leaning back with precise aim to hit him if he moved even fractionally closer to the vicious tree. He instinctively rolled backwards and watched the branches creak back into their usual places, and an even stranger sight met his sleepy eyes when he summoned enough courage to take his eyes off the willow. Heartily laughing on the grass beside him was none other than Ron Weasley, and instead of becoming angry, Harry found amusement in the situation he had been in moments beforehand. After regaining his breath, he asked Ron why he had been there and why he couldn't recall anything leading up to it, which sent Ron into fits of laughter once more when he tried to explain it to him. It turned out that Harry had fallen victim to sleep in the middle of double Divination and it hadn't annoyed Professor as much as normal; instead she told the class that he was probably fretting over his imminent death that she had sighted in the constellations. It had been going well until the class had just been dismissed and he said something that most certainly was not a word of panic, and she had decided that assisting him into the fresh air would be of benefit to him, and she had roughly set him down near the Whomping Willow, but not close enough for the branches to kill him—it was unthinkable as it would be altering his fate. Only Ron had waited an hour for him to wake up, which brought him up to that point in time, and when Harry had eased the stitch in his side from laughing so hard, they headed off to the Quidditch stadium to enjoy the weather from a higher altitude, thanks to Harry's Firebolt. Madame Hooch was polishing the school's brooms manually, and she was good-natured enough to lend Ron the best broom she had (easily better than his old Cleansweep) and they tossed a Quaffle to each other in the splendid heat. They only ceased their game to enter the main building when they knew their presence would be required at the Great Hall.

      They sat down next to their companions at the Gryffindor table and they exchanged light-hearted stories with each other as they ate their fill with delicious food, and neither Harry nor Ron realised that their conversations were lacking comments from Hermione. She sat quietly and quite forgotten a few seats away from them, blissfully thinking about all she had learned from the old, musty book, and when she'd next have access to its information, and she didn't notice that she was being ignored. She left before either of her best friends were finished eating, and she decided that testing the book's knowledge could prove rather advantageous to her status as a contemporary witch. She glowed with excitement when she discovered everything written in her notes were true, and in her ecstasy she didn't realise that she was watched by two people in the quiet corridor. She spun around and pointed her wand upon hearing a small sound from one of them, and she gasped when she heard what they had to say, and what they did…

      It was only when they'd left the Great Hall for Gryffindor Tower that Ron realised that neither of them had seen Hermione since History of Magic at first class after lunch, and they hurriedly asked their fellow students if they'd seen her. Dean Thomas said that he'd seen her when they were eating, and that Ginny had seen her heading into her bedroom whilst complaining about a headache around ten minutes ago. They decided that it would be best not to disturb her if she wanted to rest, and instead asked one of the female students to give her their regards whenever they saw her. Now that they were unable to talk to their friend, Harry and Ron were at a loss as to what to do, until inspiration struck the earlier; they could use his Invisibility Cloak and pay a visit to Hagrid in the pleasant weather. They waited for the common room to empty a little before they inconspicuously stole out of the room via the portrait hole, and they silently escaped the castle without being noticed by anyone. The sound that met their ears was a combination of fear provoking and nerve-racking, so whilst they wanted to stop dead in their tracks, their bodies forced them towards Hagrid's Hut at a greater pace than they had been travelling at beforehand. The noise was emanating from Fang as he wailed despondently into the night and scratched at the door ferociously from the inside, and the two boys were almost too afraid to enter the hut to investigate what was wrong with the great boarhound. Harry extended his shaking hand to open the solid oak door, mentally praying that it was something small as the dog was a renowned coward, and he nearly trampled them as he fled from the scene in terror. They entered the hut with fear-stricken hearts, and Ron dropped to his knees when he saw what was making Fang so afraid.

      Hagrid lay ashen-faced on the floor with an eerie lustrous symbol floating menacingly above his head, and neither of them had seen anything quite like it before. The thing that was so terrifying for them was that Hagrid was dead.


	2. Snape's Shock and Remus' Return

      Harry's legs carried him back to the main school building without regard for being seen after curfew whilst Ron stared mutely at the corpse. How could this have happened? Hagrid was foolhardy when it came to raising dangerous creatures but he never took any risks when his own life was in the equation. It was as if Fang hadn't even been in the hut as he had quickly vanished without a trace, and it didn't seem like he was in the area at all. Strangely enough, the great boarhound hadn't left any paw prints in the dried mud, which made the whole situation even eerier. The young wizard hurtled at breakneck speed until Severus Snape, his infamously cruel Potions Master, intercepted his course.

      "Where do you think you're going at such a ridiculous speed at this hour of the night? Fifty points from Gryffindor"

      "B-but s-s-s-s-sir, we need to get help, Hagrid's…"

      "You were out on the grounds to visit that great oaf too? A further one hundred points shall be deducted for your blatant disregard for the rules, so we'll top it off with three nice detentions shall we?"

      "Listen, you can do what you want with me, but Hagrid needs help, there's been dark sorcery down there, so I need to find Professor…"  
      "What's this? What do you know about dark arts? Speak!"  
      "There's a weird sign over his head, please sir you've got to help him"

      Severus stood rigidly at the thought of the sign without revealing his terror; it appeared the trouble that once plagued the school was back again. But _how_ could it be? They were no longer here and there…so, their offspring had been corrupted? Severus remembered everything easily, yet it was one thing he'd never discussed with Dumbledore, as he knew it would get him thrown out. It was the reason why he knew so much about the dark arts and that was why he wanted the job so badly, and thankfully it was one of the school's lesser-known occurrences of great importance. It started out as something to repay James Potter and his friends back with, but it had transformed into something similar to a curriculum vitae when he joined Voldemort in his rise to power.

      "Sign?"

      "Yes sir"

      "Find the headmaster then stay in the common room. Tell Professor McGonagall to give you the green vial in the fifth drawer of the antique desk; it will calm your hysteria down. Is there anything else you feel I should know?"

      "Ron's down there, I left without him. We didn't do it, please believe me"

      "I do, Potter, now stay with the staff whilst this is investigated. This is the only time I'm letting you off any detention I've given you, so wisely keep that in mind. The points being deducted have been increased by another hundred for Weasely's defiance"

      "Please sir, you've got to save him. Please"

      "I'll try. Off with you now"

      Severus headed down to the hut, equipped with his ebony wand in case the perpetrator of the crime dared show their face. He stepped over the unconscious Weasley and entered the shelter with sweat dripping along his spine in trepidation, and his discomfort trebled as he instantly recognised the symbol—there was no mistaking it being identical to the one he himself had used with his 'friends'. But how had their child learnt of it? It simply wasn't possible; the cover story had been too clever.

      Harry shouted up at Dumbledore's office until he received the attention required, and it was only when Professor Lupin called out 'Fizzing Whizzbee' from behind him they were allowed access to the staircase the gargoyle protected.

      "Professor? What are you doing here?"

      "Official Ministry work my dear Harry, I can't reveal what it is though. How have you been?"

      "It's Hagrid, Snape's been…"

      "Lullabesco!"

      As Remus Lupin shouted it, it instantly sent Harry into a dreamless sleep, feeling it better to give the boy rest instead of waiting quite some time for him to receive a serum from Madame Pomfrey. He sighed as he carried the boy in his arms on the way to Dumbledore; Harry did not need to relive the discovery just yet as an untraceable message describing the murder had already Apparated onto Fudge's desk. They were confounded as it would take the writer quite some time to leave the school grounds, write it and send it with exceedingly strong magic for such a hex to be laid on the scroll, and then they would return to the school or remain AWOL. If they returned to where they were designated to be, there would be no accounting for it. Lupin had only arrived so quickly as he had Apparated to the very edge of the school grounds and ridden a voricon to the school. A voricon was the fastest ever-living animal, and with only three in existence, they were used only in matters of utmost importance for the Ministry of Magic. When dismounted, they became invisible and silent, making them unavailable for plunderers' cages for their rarity. He'd never heard of such an incident as this in all his life, unaware that he'd attended school with two people perfectly submerged in the dark arts that specialised in creating the logo. He'd visited the school with specific orders to proceed with a spell, which would show those who had been near the hut, and to pinpoint anyone who was away from anybody else when the murder occurred. He didn't know how to break it to Harry that there was no possible way of reversing the death, and that yet another father figure had been stolen from the wizard. He hadn't spotted Harry's eyes being a more incandescent shade of green before he'd sent him asleep, or that the scar on his forehead was a striking amethyst, throbbing every other second.


End file.
